Editorial: Why Mass Effect 3’s Day 1 DLC is Terrible

For a company that was starting to make excellent new Intellectual Properties (IP) between 2007 and 2009 (like Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space) and was actually trying to abandon its image of being evil, EA has certainly come back to its pre-2007 image by abandoning those brilliant ideas to make more and more sequels as well as sequels to sequels and hosts of DLCs. It is like they forgot the “Arts” part of “Electronic Arts” and focused on money and only money. They also killed off a host of amazing studios after taking over, like Westwood, Bullfrog and Maxis.

However, when it comes to studios, Bioware is party to this thought process as well as there was no hostile takeover by EA involved. Bioware willingly went over to the “make money, not brilliant video games” side of EA and released an okay fantasy role playing game series and a pretty good science-fiction game series. Yet neither of these two (Dragon Age and Mass Effect) hold a candle to the original stories and content of the games made before Bioware joined up with EA. Neverwinter Nights and Baldur’s Gate II are the games that people still recall with reverence and awe. I do not remember most of Dragon Age: Origins and little of Dragon Age II.

Clearly, this has gone far enough. It just seems like Bioware/EA want money for releasing an over hyped game (justifiably so, since it is the conclusive episode of a modern science fiction video game series) while other AAA developers like CD Projekt RED continue to actively support the game months after its release with free DLC and a lovely new Enhanced Edition.

I, for one, am voting with my wallet. I believe, honestly, that the game is incomplete and that I should not pay the complete amount to Bioware/EA because I am feeling slightly cheated. I will forego my intention of playing the game on the day of release and buy it when it goes on sale or when the price drops a few months later, which it inevitably will. Unless Bioware/EA change their minds, this is how it is going to be. I am heartbroken that it has to be this way, but that is how I believe I can protest against this shady business practice.

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Kaushik

A mobile technology lover and a Strategy and RPG-game fanatic. I also enjoy astronomy and programming. I am a biotechnology engineer learning through this fascinating subject while poring over computer science.
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